


sunflower sky

by cirrus (themorninglark)



Series: rareprompts [11]
Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Jigsaw Puzzles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 15:37:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4441511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themorninglark/pseuds/cirrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto does not have keen eyes. The pieces are small, smaller still in his big hands. He is putting together a field of sunflowers and his brow is scrunched up now, wrinkles furrowing his forehead as he surveys the territory before him.</p><p>They have been at this for two hours, and Rei is struck all over again by his strength.</p>
            </blockquote>





	sunflower sky

**Author's Note:**

> For Jade, who asked for MakoRei, and allowed me to fulfill a long-held dream of writing this scenario. I've been dying to write these two jigsaw puzzling together since reading [this character interview](http://nagisaperopero.tumblr.com/post/111320455096/free-character-interviews-vol-6-translation). Hope you like it!

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Rei thinks about it, tilts his head to one side. "Well, Makoto-senpai, as I recall, the last time we did a jigsaw puzzle it was also like this."

Makoto laughs, and the sound of it curls gently round the snowy chill of Haruka's living room.

"Yeah, we ended up doing everything…"

A puzzle piece snaps into place beneath Rei's fingers. He smiles in satisfaction.

"…but I mean, it's been a while since we got together like this. The four of us. Just to relax."

"You and Haruka-senpai have been so busy studying, of course it was hard," Rei points out. "Exams are important!"

"So are friends," says Makoto.

His smile is evergreen in late February, rooted to the eternity of their summer.

 

Rei sorts through the blue of an abandoned sky, half-assembled by Nagisa, who's decided to wander outside to look at the stars instead. Blue, pale blue - blue and white - wisps of cloud -

His mind is patient, and his eyes are narrowed, keen behind his glasses. He sifts out what he needs.

Makoto does not have keen eyes. The pieces are small, smaller still in his big hands. He is putting together a field of sunflowers and his brow is scrunched up now, wrinkles furrowing his forehead as he surveys the territory before him.

They have been at this for two hours, and Rei is struck all over again by his strength.

It is not a strength like Rin's, that pulses, irresistable, from the coiled spring of his very body; it is not a strength like Haruka's that flows with a controlled grace. It is simpler, more elemental.

There are no shortcuts in jigsaw puzzles. They know where they're going - there's a picture right there, on the front of the box, rays of sunlight spilling down onto wind-swept grass, but putting it all together isn't easy. You can set aside the corners and the edges and group all the like colours together, you can try to break it down, but -

In the end, it's your own two hands that have to find where all the pieces fit. To make the picture - reality.

 

It took them four hours, last time. And this time - who knows? And the time after that? And -

_and - the rest of our lives?_

 

Haruka emerges from the kitchen, wordlessly. He sets two steaming mugs in front of them. Hot barley tea for Rei, honey for Makoto, who likes his drinks sweet.

"Makoto-senpai, we should take a break," says Rei.

Makoto looks up. Blinks, slowly, as if coming out of a reverie.

The yellow gold of petals sit in the heart of his palm, like hidden treasure. There's always been something more concealed in the rough pull of his hands.

"Mmm. Yeah," he says, raising his free hand to his eyes to rub them. "Wow, I didn't even notice how much time passed…"

Rei, with the well-honed instinct of a lifelong myopia sufferer, reaches out without thinking. "Makoto-senpai, don't rub your eyes, you'll make them worse - "

His fingers graze the back of Makoto's hand, tugs it downwards with a gentle push. It's warm. Really warm.

He doesn't know why it startles him so, to learn that Makoto is as warm on the outside as he is on the inside, even as winter wraps tenderly round the places where they touch.

Makoto smiles again. "Thank you, Rei."

 

Silently, in tandem, they return to the puzzle. Rei's eyes are tired. He longs to rub them himself. But he's filled with a fierce certainty that, if it's the two of them, they won't give up -

And this is Makoto's strength, the strength of a boy with nothing but sheer determination, who has captained a club from nothing to Nationals and pieced together an entire sunflower after twenty-five minutes.

Rei will do him proud next year. He won't accept any less than the best from himself, no matter what it takes.

Neither, he knows, will Makoto.

 


End file.
